Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Hunt Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the most recent rates of cancer survival.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

This Government inherited the worst cancer survival rates in western Europe and, as we have just heard, we have invested a record £450 million in improving early diagnosis, which means that record numbers of people are being tested and record numbers of people are being treated.

[Paul Uppal]

I thank the Secretary of State for his response. Last year, I met cancer patients and carers with the aim of looking at how we can improve cancer survival rates so that they are among the best in western Europe. The main observation was that early diagnosis is key. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is absolutely crucial that we support GPs to find and identify the early signs and symptoms of cancer so that we can improve survival rates?

[Mr Hunt]

That is absolutely right. What is said by everyone who has been wrestling with this problem about why our survival rates are not as good as we want them to be is that early diagnosis and access to the latest drugs are the two critical things. My hon. Friend will be pleased that 9,000 people in his region have accessed the cancer drugs fund and that, in his constituency, 300 more people every year are now being treated for cancer than was the case four years ago.

[Mark Menzies]

The excellent progress made in cancer survival rates is great news across the UK and in my constituency in Fylde. A lot of that is down to the increase in availability of diagnostic tests. Statistics from Blackpool’s NHS trust show that just under 33,000 more diagnostic tests were carried out in 2014 compared with 2010. With that in mind, will my right hon. Friend commit to increasing the availability of diagnostic tests?

[Mr Hunt]

We absolutely can. In fact, we are carrying out about half a million more diagnostic tests for cancer every year than we were four years ago. The result is that, over the course of this Parliament, 700,000 more people are being admitted for cancer treatment in our hospitals than was the case in the previous Parliament, saving 12,000 lives every year.

[Mr Walker]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s answers. Improvements in radiotherapy have been a key factor in improving cancer survival rates and quality of life for patients. This month, Worcestershire is celebrating the delivery of a state-of-the-art radiotherapy centre at Worcestershire Royal hospital. I visited that £25 million oncology centre last week. With some of the most advanced equipment in the country and eight new consultants recently recruited, does my right hon. Friend agree that the centre will be a key asset in taking forward the fight against cancer?

[Mr Hunt]

Absolutely. It was a fantastic development for Worcestershire Royal hospital. My hon. Friend campaigned very hard for it, and it is fantastic for his constituents. Cancer treatment is expensive, which is why we can only fund developments in cancer if we have a strong economy. That is what this Government are committed to doing for our NHS.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

May I draw the Secretary of State’s attention to an excellent debate we had in the Chamber on 5 February under the auspices of the all-party group on cancer? May I also draw his attention to the uncertainty surrounding the funding of the national cancer peer review group programme? That programme has recently been reviewed and the Minister had indicated that the funding would continue. Will he take the opportunity to give a commitment to funding that peer review group, because there seems to be some doubt among the 17 national cancer charities that support its work.

[Mr Hunt]

Let me reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are absolutely committed to furthering and improving peer review as a way of winning the battle against cancer. The NHS is committed to that programme, and it is just looking at how it can be improved. [Interruption.]

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

On the early detection of cancer, will the Secretary of State consider putting more resources into socially deprived areas such as Halton where the incidence of cancer is higher?

[Mr Hunt]

We are putting more resources into Halton. In fact, we are putting more resources into the NHS across the country. We are carrying out 21,000 more diagnostic tests, including cancer tests, every year compared with four years ago, and I hope that that is something the hon. Gentleman will welcome.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

The all-party group on cancer and the wider cancer community have commended the Government on introducing the one-year survival rates for cancer into the delivery dashboard from April of this year as a means of driving forward earlier diagnosis. But what can the Secretary of State tell us about the work that is being undertaken to ensure that the levers of accountability are in place to push under-performing clinical commissioning groups into raising their standards on behalf of patients?

[Mr Hunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his understanding of the importance of transparency. He will welcome the fact that we are now saving 1,000 more lives a month as a result of focusing on the five-year survival rates. But that transparency must apply to CCGs as well, and discussions are ongoing with NHS England as to the best way to do that for lots of things, including cancer.

[Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)]

Last week, we learned that the 62-day target for cancer treatment has been missed for a full 12 months:

“This isn’t just about missed targets–consecutive breaches mean thousands of patients are being failed. These targets exist to ensure swift diagnosis of cancer and access to treatment, which is vital if we’re serious about having the best survival rates in the world.”

Those are not my words; they are an exact quote from Cancer Research UK. Which bit of it does the Secretary of State disagree with?

[Mr Hunt]

I do not disagree with it, but I will tell the hon. Lady why we are missing that one target. Incidentally, we are hitting the seven other targets. We are treating and diagnosing so many more people, with 560,000 more diagnoses every year. That means that in this Parliament we are treating 700,000 more people than were treated in Labour’s last Parliament, saving 1,000 more lives a month. If the hon. Lady looks at some of the other things that Cancer Research UK says, she will see that it welcomes that strongly.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Her Majesty’s Treasury’s costing of free social care at the end of life.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

At the end of this Parliament, and before returning, I trust, to the same side of this Chamber in late May, I am pleased to update the House on NHS work force numbers. On the back of a strong economy, our NHS now has more doctors, nurses and midwives than ever before in its history, including 7,500 more nurses and 9,500 more doctors. The result is 9 million more operations during this Parliament than the previous Parliament, fewer people waiting a long time for their operations, and a start in putting right the scandal of short-staffed wards that we inherited and were highlighted by the Francis report. Indeed, last year the Commonwealth Fund said that under this Government the NHS has become the safest, most patient-centred and overall best health care system in any major country.

[Mr Speaker]

Let me point out that topical questions and answers should be brief. It is a rank discourtesy—[Interruption.] Order. It is a rank discourtesy to the House to expatiate at length and thereby to deny other Members the chance to put their questions. It will not happen. Simple, short, factual answers are what is required.

[Sir Nick Harvey]

In the past couple of days, a number of Devon and Cornwall hospitals have declared black alert status, meaning, essentially, that they are full and cannot cope with any more demand. Do Ministers therefore understand the public concern that the clinical commissioning group is considering closing beds in community hospitals, including Ilfracombe and South Molton in my constituency? Can anything more be done to help rural health economies that are trying to restructure but already struggling to cope with existing demand?

[Mr Hunt]

We do understand those concerns. It is absolutely essential that CCGs make sure that they have the right bed capacity to deal with the pressures of winters.

[Andy Burnham (Leigh) (Lab)]

Let me take the Secretary of State back to a subject he likes to avoid—NHS privatisation. He tries to deny that it is happening on his watch, but we heard earlier about the ideological privatisation of cancer scanning in Cheshire and Staffordshire, despite its being more expensive than the NHS bid—and now it could get much worse. On the Friday before the recess, the Government sneaked out the public contracts regulations, which require NHS contracts worth over €750,000 to be opened up to full EU competition. Will the Secretary of State confirm that that is indeed the case in these regulations, and can he explain what mandate he has from the public to open up the NHS to private bidders across Europe?

[Mr Hunt]

Since the last time the right hon. Gentleman and I met, the King’s Fund has published its assessment of the NHS reforms over the past few years, and its words were:

“Claims of mass NHS privatisation were and are exaggerated”.

He knows perfectly well that outsourcing grew at double the rate under the previous Labour Government than it has grown under this Government.

[Andy Burnham]

The King’s Fund report said that as a result of the Secretary of State’s reforms there is

“greater marketisation of the NHS”.

People will notice that he failed to answer my question. That is because he wants to sneak these plans through under the radar. I serve notice on him today that we will fight him all the way, right to the very last day of this Parliament. If passed, these regulations will mean that almost every NHS contract will be forced to be advertised across Europe, shattering the promise he made to protect the NHS from EU competition law. Is it not now abundantly clear that he has forfeited the public’s trust on the NHS, and that five more years of this Government will lead to huge acceleration in NHS privatisation?

[Mr Hunt]

I repeat:

“Claims of mass NHS privatisation were and are exaggerated”.

If the right hon. Gentleman does not like the reforms, let us look at a country that did not have them—Wales. The number of people waiting too long for A and E is nearly double that in England, the number of people waiting too long for urgent ambulances is nearly double that in England, and the number of people waiting for operations is 10 times that in England. That is our record—it is a record of success.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

T3. Not enough GPs want to practise in rural Wales. I am told that one of the reasons is that GPs registered in England have to go through a bureaucratic process to be able to work in Wales. Will my hon. Friend the Minister work with the Welsh Government to ensure that we have a common registration process so that GPs can move between England and Wales without having lengthy, time-wasting new bureaucracy?

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

T2. A recent Ashcroft poll shows that only 15% of the public think that this Government have the best approach to running the NHS. Will the Secretary of State stand up at the Dispatch Box and apologise for his top-down reorganisation of the NHS and his Tory privatising Health and Social Care Act, and accept that the public will never trust the Tories with the NHS?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

I will tell the hon. Gentleman what the public think about the NHS: last year, under this Government, dissatisfaction was at its lowest ever level and satisfaction jumped the highest among Labour voters. And where did satisfaction go down? In Wales.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T5. I have previously made Ministers aware that there are no beds for females in Dorset who need intensive psychiatric care. Our local newspaper, the Daily Echo, reports that such places will not be provided in Dorset for another three years. Meanwhile, patients are being sent as far away as Bradford. Do Ministers regard that as satisfactory? Are there enough resources coming to Dorset, or is it a local organisational issue?

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

T6. Bolton’s accident and emergency department has been in crisis recently, partly because the clinical commissioning group closed the town’s walk-in centre. Will the Secretary of State support my petition calling for its reinstatement, or will he say, more predictably, “It’s not me, guv; I’m just the Secretary of State for Health”?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

I am accountable for what happens in the NHS, so let me tell the hon. Gentleman what is actually happening in Bolton: compared with four years ago, 2,756 more people are being seen at A and E within four hours. That is a record of investment and success.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

What alternatives do clinical commissioning groups have to a full-scale commercial procurement when their existing contracts for community health services approach the time when they have run their course?

--- Later in debate ---

[Robert Jenrick (Newark) (Con)]

May I commend the Government on raising the priority for dementia in their announcement last week? Will the Secretary of State and the Department of Health put all their resources behind towns such as Newark, which are trying to establish themselves as dementia-friendly towns and are working with shopkeepers, banks and the business community to make it easier for older people with dementia to lead fulfilling lives?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

I commend my hon. Friend on his work in that area. People with dementia want to lead as normal a life as possible, and being able to go out to the shops is one very important thing they want to continue to do. We now have 1 million dementia friends in this country. That is a great step forward, and with his help we will do even more.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

When does the Secretary of State expect NHS England to confirm a date for the national tariff for the supply of prosthetic services and equipment? The lengthy and, quite frankly, unacceptable delay on his watch is now causing really serious issues for those who need prosthetics, as well as for those who want to deliver the services.

[Mr Hunt]

I am happy to look into that issue and get back to the hon. Lady.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

In addition to the work that Monitor does on tariffs for individual pathways, what work has it done to assess the base funding that acute hospitals need to maintain core services, which are so interdependent?

[Mr Hunt]

Monitor has done extensive work on this issue, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right to talk about it. If we are to meet the financial challenge that the NHS faces over the next five years, we need to have a very sensible discussion about what realistic efficiency gains need to be made, and I am sure that he will engage in those discussions.

[Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood) (UKIP)]

Medway clinical commissioning group is looking at putting GPs at the front of our accident and emergency department to help relieve pressures on emergency doctors. Do Ministers believe that that is a promising way forward?

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend update the House on what steps he is taking to prevent avoidable deaths from sepsis?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

I am absolutely happy to do that. Overall, we have 1,000 avoidable deaths every month by some estimates, and a number of those are from sepsis. We have launched a big campaign to prevent those deaths. Indeed, we will shortly have the results of the Morecambe Bay inquiry, from which I think we will hear more about the issue. I want to thank my hon. Friend for her campaigning and her work with the all-party group on sepsis to raise awareness of this very important issue.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

GPs across the north-east say that they are facing a work force crisis, with falling numbers of family doctors. Does the Secretary of State not recognise the connection between people being unable to get an appointment to see their GP and the rising and major pressure on our A and E department?